The EU will take action today against seven nations including Germany and Britain for failing to police car emissions rules after the Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAY) cheating scandal showed suspicious behavior in the industry.

Officials say many nations wooed by the industry's importance - it employs some 12M people in the bloc - have shielded carmakers from the kind of sanctions some face in the U.S.

South Korea's Fair Trade Commission will seek criminal charges against five former and current Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAY) executives and fine the German carmaker's unit 37.3B won ($32M) for false advertising on vehicle emissions.

The fine, a record for false advertising in the Asian country, reflects a toughening stance after the country suspended most VW sales in the country since August.

BMW (OTCPK:BAMXF) will test about 40 autonomous vehicles in Munich next year as it seeks to keep up with ride-hailing firms like Uber (Private:UBER), which have spent billions on pay-per-use personal transport.

"There is a trained test driver behind the wheel of every car," said Klaus Buettner, BMW's Vice President in charge of Autonomous Driving.

VW (OTCPK:VLKAY) has also taken aim at Uber, entering the on-demand ride services market with its new MOIA brand.

Electric vehicles are forecast to cut into oil demand by 1M-2M bbl/day by 2035, according to oil industry consultant Wood McKenzie.

That estimate is actually much more conservative than Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s estimate for EVs to impact demand by 8M bbl/day by 2035. For perspective, OPEC agreed this week to coordinated production cuts of 1.2M bbl/day which swung crude oil prices wildly. EVs are only sipping up the equivalent of 50K bbl/day currently.

The general consensus even in the oil industry is that governments are moving toward major changes with pollution and emissions regulations. Just this week, the cities of Paris, Mexico City, Madrid and Athens all said they would ban the use of diesel vehicles by 2025. Beijing is also slowly adopting pro-EV policies.

A higher mix of EVs in the future has already been tipped off by the dramatic long-term electrification initiatives announced this year by companies such as BMW (OTCPK:BMWYY), Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAY), Ford (NYSE:F) and Toyota (NYSE:TM). Around the corner, Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) and General Motors (NYSE:GM) have their mass model EVs ready to roll - while new EV trucks, buses and motorcycles are also on the way.

AlixPartners managing director Elmar Kades says the new fast-charging network planned in Europe through a combined effort of BMW (OTCPK:BMWYY), Daimler (OTCPK:DDAIF), Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAY) and Ford gives "great visibility" to the strong commitment to the EV industry by major automakers.

There is also the obvious benefit to each company of reducing the cost of building the extensive charging network.

Negotiations are continuing between the German automaker, regulators and lawyers, he said, setting a Dec. 16 hearing after being advised that a delay "may produce a resolution of the outstanding issues."

The group sees an "ultra-fast high-powered" charging network along major highways with power levels up to 350 kW.

The initial build-up is planned to start next year with 400 sites across Europe. By 2020, thousands of high-powered charging points are expected.

Stanphyl Capital's Mark Spiegel points out that the planned network is at 2X the speed of Tesla's superchargers. It's the same Spiegel who Bloomberg reports is discussing Tesla (TSLA-2.2%) as a short idea at the Robin Hood conference in NYC.

TrueCar estimates new automobile sales rose 3.6% in November. On an adjusted day basis, the forecasts falls to a 4.7% drop in sales for the month due to the two fewer selling days.

GM (NYSE:GM) sales for November are expected to increase 11.2% (unadjusted) to give it an 18.7% market share vs. 17.4% last year. Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAY), which is starting to lap its emissions scandal period, is expected to post a 4% gain for the month.

The research firm says average incentive spending was up 13% Y/Y to $3,475 per unit. The only automaker without an increase in incentive spending during the month was Daimler (OTCPK:DDAIF), accordintg to TrueCar.

"The early launch of Black Friday sales events is helping offset declines in fleet sales this month, as the retail sales environment remains strong for new car sales,” notes TrueCar analyst Eric Lyman.

Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAY) sees building its own factory to make electronic vehicle batteries as a logical move as it expands production of low-emission cars after its emissions scandal.

"If more than a quarter of our cars are to be electronic vehicles in the in the foreseeable future then we are going to need approximately three million batteries a year," CEO Matthias Mueller told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.